What Aunt Tegan Said
by katalizi
Summary: Just before I went on my backpacking trip to Europe, my Aunt Tegan had a few words of advice .... Brand new writer here!


What Aunt Tegan Said 

I don't own Doctor Who. Never did, never will.

Please review! First time writer, I need to know where I suck!!

For what felt like the thousandth time, I checked and re-checked my backpack. Did I have everything, was it all in order?

Passport … check. Visa … check. Traveller's checks … check. Warm clothes, diary, freeze-dried food, sleeping bag and mattress …

"Is everything still there?" asked my aunt dryly, not taking her eyes off the Sunday edition. I looked up from the floor of the living room a bit sheepishly, sitting in the middle of most of my backpacks contents that I had once again pulled out and scattered.

"Sorry, Aunt Tegan." I said, making my way over to join her at the table. "I'm just a bit nervous, y'know?"

"Yes, I know." She sighed, turning a page then looking up at me. Her eyes looked tired behind her reading glasses, but they still had that dark spark to them that my Dad often said her saw in my eyes. The illness hadn't been able to take that away.

"I just wish you wouldn't obsesses over your luggage here in my living room, that's all." She continued, folding the newspaper. "You know I'm not used to visitors."

That was true. My Aunt Tegan was a strange lady who had many relationships, but never married – at least, not permerently. I remember Dad once mentioning that she had been involved with a pommie popstar in the 80s, but since Tegan had never talked about it, neither had I. She told me that she had travelled a lot, when she was my age, but she never went into detail, and even though she worked hard helping the community with various projects, recognition always made her uneasy. She was a contradiction, most of her life hidden in shadows to me, and that was what made her seem so exciting and exotic.

But as the years wore on and the mysterious woman opposite me grew old. When the cancer started taking hold she began to wither away. Only her eyes, and her smile when she chose to use it, reminded me of that energetic lady from my childhood.

"Sorry." I aid again, remembering how my Dad, her brother, had told me not to stress her, but she just waved my apology aside.

"No, no, it's fine." She said. "Besides, it's your first big trip overseas. You're entitled to be excited."

"I've been to New Zealand." I reminded her. We looked at each other for a second before bursting out laughing.

"I said a _big_ trip overseas!" she reminded me. "You're going to Europe, sweetie. This isn't some hop across the Ditch."

At this I suddenly became all nervous again and took in a shaky breath. Tegan noticed this and reached out her hand across the table to grasp mine.

"You'll be fine." She said forcefully. "You're young, you're tough, and you're a Jovanka." I give her a shaky smile. "What have you got to worry about?"

I put my other hand on top of her somewhat bony one and pat it. "Tegan?" I ask gently. "What was it like when you went the Europe?"

In that one sentence I can see her defences going up like steal shields. For a moment I'm afraid she's going to pull her hand away from mine but for some reason she doesn't. Maybe I happened to get her on a good night. Maybe she finally just wanted to talk about it, even just a little, even if only to her niece who was more than half her age.

Maybe it was because I was about to take the same road she once did, years before I was born.

"What you need to understand is this." She began slowly. "All the travelling I did when I was young … it was nothing like what you're going to do."

"Because of the time difference?"

"No. Because of who I travelled with."

She paused and I waited for her to continue. She was looking at the space

between us, her bright eyes seeing things from long ago. Things I'd never see myself.

"I met a man once. And don't get that look in your eyes," she said, suddenly snapping back to the present, the corners of her mouth twitching. "Because it wasn't like that, not at all. He may have been incredible, one of the best men I have ever met … maybe one of the best men in the universe … but …" Once again her she faded away, her face becoming sad. "He took me places you could never imagine. I saw such beautiful things … such terrible things …"

"In Europe?" I asked, my voice barely above a whisper. It was as if she was dragging a part of me back with her. Back to that unknown shadowed world she'd never let anyone into.

"Everything was so much more intense with him." She said, ignoring me. "The stars were brighter, the horizons wider, colours sharper. But under all that intensity, a soul can be burnt alive.

I could feel myself burning with him. Changing and hardening. Suddenly, one day, I left him. I didn't give a reason. I couldn't. All I knew was that, in that one moment, I needed to be far away from him. His promises. His madness. You see, I realised something too late. He is the eye of the storm. And sooner or later, all who live around him will be damaged."

She stopped, still staring at our joined hands. I was silent, afraid of breaking the moment, willing her to continue. But after a heartbeat Tegan stirred and looked me in the eye again, once more her usual self.

"I will give you three pieces of advice, though." She said briskly. "And promise me you'll remember then."

"No worries." I said, then realising that she needed to hear the words I said earnestly, "I promise."

"First: If you happen to see a big blue box with the word 'police' on it, avoid it."

"Uh … okay." I was mystified. It wasn't like Aunt Tegan to hate the police.

"Second." She continued smoothly. "If you meet a man who calls himself the Doctor, trust him."

"Okay."

"No matter what."

"No matter what, I'll trust a man who calls himself … the Doctor." I stop at this, raising an eyebrow. "What's his full name?"

"That was it." She said briskly. "Lastly, if the Doctor then asks you to go travelling with him, please, _please_ say no."

I stared at Tegan for a moment. This was a strange request, and I had a feeling I was going to promise something I couldn't fulfil. But my aunt was looking at me with such force, so much of her eyes pleading with me, that I just had to say it.

"I will never travel with the Doctor."

_6 months later …_

"You took your time!" I howled at the man who called himself the Doctor, as he flung himself behind an upturned table where I was sheltering from a lizard the size of a horse. "You were meant to be here ten minutes ago and look!" I shoved it in his face. "My bow thingy's all broken! What about migration?"

"Steady on, steady on!" he yelled back at me. A second later the tail of the lizard flung around again, pushing the table back few metres and knocking the wind out of both of us. "Oomph! Martha's handling the migration, here's another bow, and I got held up by a blond and ginger."

"A whaty what what?!"

"A blond and ginger. They gave me a book."

"What'd they give you a book for?"

"Dunno. Sure I'll work it out sooner or later."

There was another smashing noise and I started choking at all the dust falling around us. "Gimme the bow!" I wheezed.

"D'you think you'll be able to hit anything this time?" he challenged and I gave him a withering stare. "What? Well, you're the one who said you knew how to shoot!"

"Once! At Lazertag! When I was sixteen!" I moaned. "And you should never listen to me. I'm just a mouth on legs."

He suddenly fixed me with such an intense stare that I stopped in mid motion of loading my bow. "You what?" he asked breathlessly.

"I – never mind!" I shouted, before standing up from behind the table, bow nocked, letting my arrow fly right into the heart of the huge beast,

"Is it always this mad?" I asked Martha in a conversational tone as she wrapped a bandage around a cut on my left arm.

"Oh, don't ask me." She said, laughing slightly. "I've forgotten what normal is."

After all the havoc I'd followed the Doctor and Martha back to a rooftop that overlooked most of London. There, where I had expected it to be, was a big blue box, complete with the word 'police'. At this point I'd turned to them both and told them in no uncertain terms that if I was going to see anything else unusual, I'd probably have a heart attack. The Doctor advised that I should stay outside with Martha.

"Not a usual holiday, then?" she commented lightly.

"Not if 'usual' includes finding a hive and almost getting fed to a guard lizard." I answered dryly, moving my arm around slowly.

"Well!" came the enthusiastic voice from behind us. "How was that for a days work, ay?"

"Exhausting." I said flatly. Martha smiled at that, then turned to the Doctor with something else on her mind.

"Stuck in 1969?" she asked.

"It's all here." He said, patting his coat breast pocket.

"What is?" I asked, completely lost.

"The book." He said, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "From the blonde and the ginger."

"Ri –ight."

"Believe it or not, you can get used to that." Said Martha softly.

"So, Emma," said the Doctor easily. "What are you going to do now?"

"Uh … continue with my travels, I suppose." I answered. "I've seen France and Germany, so now I've gotta see more of Britain." I laughed suddenly. "This was actually my first day in London!"

"You like to travel?" he asked, suddenly very still and watching me closely.

I waved my arms to indicate where I was. "Obviously!"

"Well," he sniffed, walking back to lean on the box. "I was just thinking, seeing as how you helped me and Martha so much … maybe as a gift … you might fancy a trip?"

Martha raised her eyebrows at this slightly, but didn't say anything. She clearly wasn't expecting this, but wouldn't mind if I came. The Doctor was looking at me, his face almost void except for a small smile playing with the corner of his mouth. And then I suddenly realised. He expected me to say yes.

He is the eye of the storm. And sooner or later, all who live around him will be damaged.

"I can't." I blurted out. His face fell, and Martha looked surprised. "I mean, I'd _like_ to, I guess, but …" I hesitated. "I promised someone I wouldn't."

The Doctor look surprised, shocked, and then saddened, all of this in a second. Then his face was back to neutral.

"Yes, well, quite." He said abruptly. "I just thought – as a traveller – well."

"I have to go." I said quietly.

"Yes, yes."

I quickly gave Martha a hug and shook hands with the Doctor. Feeling his cool fingers next to mind almost gave me a jolt, though I don't know why.

"Goodbye Martha. Doctor."

They smiled and nodded and in a moment disappeared into the box. There was a thud, then the sound of something like a train approaching from the distance. To my shock the huge box began to melt before my eyes, leaving a whirlwind that shook my clothes and hair. Then, as suddenly as it had started, it was gone, leaving no trace that it had ever been there, expect for some high-pitched wailings on the wind.

I knew then and there, that I'd never see them again.

I was right.


End file.
